When it comes to marketing choices, there are some that make too much sense to avoid. To market Finding Dory, Disney/Pixar held special events at water-themed areas (aka aquariums); for the world premiere of Tomorrowland, Disney pulled out all the stops and held an after-party at Disneyland’s (you guessed it) Tomorrowland. When you think of the Cars franchise, there are plenty of ways for Disney and Pixar to create buzz, but auto shows are an obvious choice. Cars 3 is doing just that, as the film will be a presence at a Detroit auto show. Find more details after the break. [Read more…]

One of Pixar’s best films of the last 10 years is 2010’s Toy Story 3, which was directed by Lee Unkrich. The incredible story, action, and heart in the film raised interest in what Unkrich’s next project would be. A few years ago, the studio announced his next film would be centered around the Dia de los Muertos holiday. When the film’s title, Coco, was revealed last year, few other details about the film’s story were laid out. Today, we learned significantly more about what to expect from the plot. Read more about Coco‘s story, see gorgeous concept art as well as some of the voice cast after the jump. [Read more…]

The internet and social media have completely transformed the marketing approach that movie studios (and anyone else, for that matter) take in order to create buzz for their products. Think back to the 90s and how you used to learn of a film. You may have fond memories of blurry trailers with inconsistent audio. Now that audio and video reach audiences in pristine form, platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter have become some of the go-to places to market films. Part of the reasoning for that is the surge in smartphone users in the last 10 years. Last week, a new teaser trailer for Cars 3 was released and judging by the number of views it garnered, there were plenty of viewers interested in seeing what another addition to the Cars franchise would look like. [Read more…]

Until 2014, Pixar had released a feature film every year for eight straight years. For several years during that run, the studio even flirted with releasing two films in a year, demonstrating the growth in its efficiency, so the chance of not releasing any features in a given year seemed to be unthinkable. However, the unthinkable occurred when The Good Dinosaur was delayed about 18 months, leaving 2014 as the first time in a good while that Pixar was absent, at least on the big screen. Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with director Peter Sohn to discuss the challenges the film faced and what it’s like to be vulnerable when millions of people are watching. Read about our discussion after the break. [Read more…]

The Pixar Times has been on an extended hiatus, mostly due to my personal/professional life ramping up over the course of the last few months. I do hope to return to posting regularly in the near future and will keep everyone updated on the status of that over on our Twitter account. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of the toys that I’ve been playing with and the books that I’ve been reading while I’ve been away from the site. In what should not be a surprise to anyone, this involves The Good Dinosaur and Toy Story products – take a look after the break! [Read more…]

The reason why Pixar did not have a feature film to release in 2014 was because the studio decided to delay The Good Dinosaur into late 2015 in order to polish the film’s story. Although the premise has not changed – it remains a film that takes place in a world where the asteroid never killed off the dinosaurs – there have been many shifts in the story. Now, we have come to discover that Pixar has recast almost every role. Find out which actors have joined the film after the break! [Read more…]

In just under 30 years of existence, Pixar has amassed an incredible amount of goodwill from audiences around the world, giving the studio more respect than any other film studio in Hollywood. In recent years, the universal praise that the studio usually garnered has wavered, with Toy Story 3 (2010) being Pixar’s last mega-success. Even though both Brave and Monsters University were quality films, this year’s spectacular Inside Out will be the film that reminds viewers that Pixar has no equal in the film business. Read my spoiler-free review after the break! [Read more…]